The invention herein pertains to equipment used in the manufacture of paper carton blanks and particularly pertains to joggers which assist in the manipulation and handling of carton blanks.
The majority of products which are displayed in retail and other stores are delivered in paper or cardboard boxes of various shapes and dimensions. Industrial carton manufacturing equipment is commercially available which accepts, for example, cardboard sheets from a feed table which are then fed to a steel rule die section which cuts, embosses and/or scores the cardboard sheets. The cut sheets are then further processed as by stripping out the unnecessary components, resulting in a carton blank. The carton blanks are then stacked. These manufacturing steps are carried out at rapid speeds and stacks of carton blanks produced in only seconds are then conveyed, usually on reusable wooden pallets to a storage area where they are bound or wrapped for transportation to the customer. Upon arrival, the blanks are folded into boxes and filled with desired merchandise.
During the carton blank manufacturing process, as the stacks of blanks are being handled after cutting or scoring, they are stacked to a predetermined height and are usually wrapped before shipping to maintain the integrity of the stacks. Also, insert sheets are placed in the stacks at specific intervals to ensure the stability of the stacks. As the stacks reach a predetermined height, electronic controls cause the stacks to be lowered a few millimeters to allow for positioning of the insert sheets. As the stacks are relatively unstable during this step, joggers positioned around the periphery of the stacks maintain pressure on the stacks as they are being lowered. The slight pressure afforded by the joggers ensures the carton blank stacks remain even and stable. When completed, the stacks are then moved, usually by conveyor to another area where they are bound for storage and shipment.
The equipment used in forming carton blanks provides frames which support the joggers and are sized to approximate the carton blank dimensions. The number of frames and joggers used is dependent on the particular size and shape of the carton blanks being stacked. It is not unusual for 6-8 stacks of carton blanks to be processed simultaneously onto a single pallet. It is important that each stack remain aligned and spaced from the other stacks on the pallet since the automated high speed equipment which folds, fills and further processes the carton blanks into cartons accepts only properly aligned blanks and often jams if the blank stacks are askew.
Conventional joggers are affixed by various arrangements to the stacking frames employed but all joggers consist of a main body and a slide which moves in a vertical direction within the body. The slide is designed to move a few millimeters, usually less than twenty-five, whereby movement is terminated by a mounting bolt head positioned against the body race. While such length of slide movement is oftentimes adequate, in certain carton blank manufacture such length of slide movement is inadequate. Also, dust and debris can collect around the mounting bolt head causing problems with the slide movement, sometimes accumulating to shorten further the slide movement length.
Thus, in view of the problems and disadvantages of conventional joggers, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a jogger having extended slide movement length while eliminating the mounting bolt head stop.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a jogger slide with opposing shoulders which act to limit the slide""s movement.
It is a further objective of the current invention to provide a stop member in the form of a dog which is threadably inserted into a side rail of the jogger body.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a jogger slide which defines a channel in its back surface to avoid the mounting bolt head.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing a jogger for use in carton blank forming equipment which includes a metal body and slide. The metal body includes a race having a pair of opposing side rails. An aperture is defined within the race for receiving a mounting bolt. A channel in the slide back surface allows the slide to avoid the mounting bolt head as it moves along the race. Shoulders are formed in the slide which engage a threaded dog positioned in one of the side rails. The slide shoulders, upon engaging the dog prevent the slide from further movement.
The method describes the jogging of carton blanks utilizing the aforedescribed jogger by first making the same and then using the jogger in the same manner as standard joggers to provide carton blank stack stability.